Tie plate and rail clip combination



Dec. 13, 193.8. v. c. ARMsTRoNG 2,140,217 TIE PLATE AND RAIL CLIPCOMBINATION Filed June 24, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 "man Patented Dec. 13,1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,140,217 TIE PLATE AND RAIL CLIPCOMBINATION Victor to Poor & Company, ration of Delaware ApplicationJune 24,

5 Claims.

the rail.

Generally speaking, the object of the invention is to provide a tieplate and rail retaining clip combination which is cheap and easy toproduce and install and in which the clip serves effectively to retainthe rail on the tie plate and, at the same time, permits the upwardportions of the natural wave motion of the rail to pass through thelatter substantially without being transmitted to the tie plate andthrough the latter to the tie, whereby disadvantageous pumping of thetie in the road bed is substantially eliminated.

According to the invention, the upstanding lug of the tie plate is inthe form of a tongue-like portion of the tie plate bent upwardlytherefrom and is provided at its top with an enlargement or head forinterlocking cooperation with the rail retaining cl ip to hold thelatter in assembly with the tie plate, and in this connection a specialobject of the invention is to bend said lug from the tie plate in amanner such that the free or upper end of the lug is comprised by aportion of the usual rail abutting shoulder of the tie plate, wherebythere is provided in the upper end of the lug the required amount ofmetal from which to fo rm the enlargement or head thereof.

Another special object of the invention is to provide, for interlockingcooperation with a tie plate lug of the character mentioned, a railretaining clip which may practically and economically be formed fromflat stock simply by a bending operation, or operations, and whichembodies a construction such that, engaged with the tie plate in railretaining position With the which will when it is operatively lug, it isheld securely thereon.

foregoing and other objects in View, become more fully apparent as thenature of the invention is better understood, the same consists in thenovel features of construction, combination and arrangement oi parts aswill be hereinafter more fully described, illustrated in th eaccompanying drawings and deiined in the appended claims.

In the a characters parts in related Figure l tie plate an drawings,wherein like denote corresponding ccompanying of reference views:

is a fragmentary end elevation of a d rail retaining clip combinationcon- New York, N. Y., a corpo- 1938, Serial No. 215,667

(Cl. 23S-349) structed in accordance with one practical embodiment ofthe invention.

Figure 2 is a plan View of the Fig. l construction.

Figure 3 is a View similar to Fig. 1 illustrating an alternative form ofclip.

Figure 1 is a View similar to Fig. 1 illustrating an alternative form ofthe tie plate lug and another alternative form of clip for interlockingwith said tie plate lug; and

Figure 5 is a section on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4.

Referring to the drawings in detail, A designates, generally, a tieplate of a well known type which is designed to be superimposed upon atie and to be fastened thereto in any suitable manner to serve as a seatfor a rail, designated generally as B, and which, in accordance withcommon practice, is provided with an upstanding rib I!! providing ashoulder or abutment engageable -by the edge of the rail flange II tohold the rail against outward or inward movement, as the case may be.

In accordance with the invention, the tie plate A is provided, at apoint suitably spaced outwardly from the rib I0, with an upstanding lugI2 which may be of any suitable height and width and which is providedatits top with an enlargement or head I3, illustrated in the presentinstance as being of substantially cylindrical shape in cross sectionand as extending horizontally from end A to end of the lug paralleltothe rib Ill. Further in accordance with the invention, there isprovided a rail retaining clip. C which may be formed economically fromsheet stock, such as spring steel, by a simple bending operation, oroperations, and which comprises, primarily, an eye portion I4 forinterlocking cooperation with the upper or headed portion of the lug I2,and a resilient finger I5 extending inwardly from said eye portion tooverlie the railflange I I, thereby to yieldably hold the rail againstupward movement from its seat on the tie plate A.

rPhe eye portion I4 of the clip C is substantially in the form of ahollow cylinder longitudinally slotted at its bottom, and is of suchnormal size that when it is pressed or driven downwardly over the headI3 of the lug I2, or is operatively engaged with said lug by being movedendwise relative thereto, its side portions IB are more or less sprungapart sothat it, tightly grips the head of said lug. Moreover, the sideportions I6 extend downwardly from the eye proper sufficient distancesto engage the inner and the outer faces of the lug i2 below the head I3.of said lug, so that when the clip is operatively mounted on the lug itis eifectively held against rotation relative thereto. Therefore, thefinger I5 is maintained operatively positioned in overlying relationshipto the rail flange, either normally in contact therewith or normallyspacedA slightly thereabove, as may be desired, and serves to yieldablyhold the rail against upward movement relative to the tie plate.

Obviously, the clip C may have a variety of forms. For example, Fig. 1of the Adrawings illustrates that the inner side portion of the eye Ill,after being extended downwardly for engagement with the inner face ofthe lug I 2 directly below the head I3 of said lug, extends upwardly andinwardly in the form of a U-bend I I, thence inwardly and downwardly inthe form of an inverted U-band I8, and finally inwardly at an upwardinclination corresponding to the upward and inward inclination of theupper face of the rail flange so as to flatly engage the latter; Figure3 illustrates that the inner side portion of the eye Ill, after beingextended downwardly for engagement with the inner face of the lug I2below the head I3 of said lug, extends upwardly and inwardly in the formof a U- bend I'i, thence inwardly and downwardly in a relatively longarc I8 only the free or inner end of which engages the upper face of therail flange; and Figure 4 illustrates a form similar to the formillustrated in Fig. 1, but which differs therefrom inthat the invertedU-bend, designated as I8', is flatter than the U-bend Il and in that theportion of the finger which iiatly engages the rail flange is of lesserlength than the corresponding portion of the finger of the Fig. 1 form.Moreover, Figs. 4 and 5 illustrate that the lug I2 may be provided witha slot or recess IS below the head I3 thereof, and that the outerportion of the eye I i of the clip may have a tongue or tab 20 to engagein said slot or recess to prevent loss of the clip from the lug and toassist in holding the clip against rotation relative to the head of thelug. In all cases, the U-bends joining the rail flange contactingportion of the finger of the clip with the eye of the clip affordresiliency beyond that afforded by the inherent resiliency of the springsteel or other material from which the clip is formed, so that, whilethe rail is held effectively against excessive upward movements relativeto the tie plate, it may, nevertheless, rise freely within a limitedextent relative to said tie plate to permit its natural wave motion topass freely therethrough.

Regarding the lug I2, this may be formed on the tie plate in anypreferred manner. Preferably, however, for the sake of simplicity andeconomy in the production of the tie plate, it is in the form of atongue bent upwardly from said plate. Moreover, while said lug may bebent upwardly from any desired portion of the tie plate, it preferablyis bent from a portion of said plate such that its top portion iscomprised by a removed portion of the rib I Il. Because of this, theremoved portion of the rib II! affords the necessary excess of metal inthe top portion of the lug from which to form the enlargement or head I3in a very simple forging Aor pressing operation.

Only one end portion of the tie plate and the related rail clip havebeen illustrated in the drawings. It will be understood, however, thatthe construction shown may be duplicated at Vthe other end of the tieplate if desired.

Both the present tie plate and clip are comparatively cheap and easy toproduce, the clip may readily and easily be applied to the tie platelug, and when applied thereto it very effectively performs its intendedfunction, as will be evident from the drawings. y

Without further description it is thought that the features andadvantages of the invention will be readily apparent to those skilled inthe art, and it will of course be understood that changes in the form,proportion and minor details of construction may be resorted to, withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention and scope of the appendedclaims.

l. In combination, a tie plate, a rail seated thereon, a lug rising fromthe tie plate and having an enlarged head, and a rail retaining clipincluding a resilient eye portion of substantially the same interiorcross sectional size and shape as the head of said lug embracing thehead of said lug and having opposite side portions engaging oppositefaces of said iug below the head thereof, whereby the clip is held inassembly with one of said eye side portions being reversely bent uponitself to provide against rotation relative to the lug, and a resiiientlinger extending from said eye portion into overlying relationship tothe rail flange.

2. In combination, a tie plate, a rail seated thereon, a lug rising fromthe tie plate and having an enlarged substantially cylindrical headextending parallel to the rail, and a rail retaining clip including asubstantially cylindrical resilient eye portion, of substantially thesame interior cross sectional size and shape as the head of said lug,embracing said head and having opposite side portions extending belowsaid head and engaging the inner and the outer faces of the lug belowthe head thereof to hold the clip against rotation relative to the lug,one of said eye side portions being reversely bent upon itself toprovide a resilient finger extending from said clip into overlyingrelationship to the rail flange.

3. In combination, a tie plate, a rail seated thereon, a lug rising fromthe tie plate and having an enlarged substantially cylindrical headextending parallel to the rail, and a rail retaining clip including asubstantially cylindrical resilient eye portion contractively embracingsaid head and having inner and outer side portions extending below saidhead and respectively engaging the inner and the outer faces of the lugbelow the head thereof whereby the clip is held in assembly with andagainst vrotation relative to the lug, the inner side portion of saidclip eye being bent inwardly and upwardly and being then extended intooverlying relationship to the rail ange.

4. The combination as set forth in claim 3 in which the lug is providedwith a recess, and in which the outer side portion of the clip eye isprovided with a tongue disposed in said recess.

5. A tie plate having a rib providing a rail abutment and an upstandinglug provided-with an enlarged head with which to engage a rail retainingclip, said lug being bent upwardly from the tie plateV and having themetal of its enlarged head comprised by a portion of the rib of said tieplate removed from its normal location bv bending of the lug from thetie plate VICTOR C. ARMSTRONG.

